Reality is Silent
by jacejosujura
Summary: Two incredibly gifted agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation unwillingly team up to catch the country's worst serial killers, rapists, and kidnappers. Neither one of them has the capacity to be wrong, and together, they are unstoppable. As their journey to take down the sickest minds one can fathom grows, how will the open up to each other? [Jace/Liliana]
1. Prologue

**AN:** So, guys, I haven't died, I still plan on finishing A Safe Place, Office Hours, and Seven Deadly Sins when I get the inspo to do it. However, I want to write, and this seems to be the only story I can think about atm. Anyways, here is _Reality is Silent,_ my newest creation.

" _Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler":_ French for "Let the good times roll."

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 _FBI Headquarters: Quantico, Virginia_

* * *

Jace's plans always worked. He was never wrong, and that's why he excelled at this job. Most of his co-workers found him arrogant at best, and and a insufferable know-it-all at worst. He'd risen quickly through the ranks of the FBI after graduating from Georgetown only two years prior. He was quickly promoted to Unit Chief over the new Behavioral Analysis Unit, much to the chagrin of other, supposedly more seasoned agents. Jace was brilliant, anti-social, and had no family. He was perfect for the position. The job was Jace's life. His father had lost his life in the line of duty, serving this country, and his mother, a once vibrant woman, had taken her own life as a result- Jace was only a sophomore in college when he lost everything. Jace liked to pretend he wasn't fueled by pent up grief and resentment, but he didn't pretend very well. He was almost always withdrawn and sullen.

Jace didn't want a partner, much less a team. He wanted to investigate these heinous crimes alone, and this was always a point of contention with Director Mizzet. He had point blank refused the help of Ral Zarek, threatening to leave the Bureau if he had to work with the man. But then Kallist came- and he was the person that helped him work. But Kallist disapproved of the politics that ruled all in the nation's capital. So he left. He moved on to work with INTERPOL, and was in St. Petersburg, Russia. Another time Jace's heart was ripped in two, though he understood why the man that became his brother had to do it. Director Mizzet said that he could take a partner or he could be assigned a team, so naturally Jace had chosen the route where he could deal with fewer people. He called Kallist, no answer, though Jace wasn't surprised. Jace didn't want to interview people, so he agreed to let Director Mizzet pick his new partner. When he came in at 0700, there was a file sitting at his desk, and the adjoining office door was cracked open. He guessed the new partner was here, so he did the thing any proper manager or boss would do and went to find out his name.

Of course, no one knew why Jace was so good at his job, because no one would believe him if he told them. People continuously told Jace that he was gifted, but they didn't even scratch the surface. Jace had _a gift._ He honed in on the mind of the person in the room next to him, and the thoughts were too sing-songy to be male. It was a woman. She was wondering where her boss was, though she had shown up forty minutes early. With a wry smile, he pushed the girl's thoughts out of his mind, forcing himself to be squarely in the present.

That's why Jace was so good at his job. He knew lies from truth, he dealt in absolutes. Jace was a telepath, and a gifted one at that.

* * *

Liliana was five days out of the FBI academy when she had been approached by the Director himself, and handed a file with Jace's name and face on it.

"Meet your new boss," he had said, a wry smile. "And he's difficult," he added, walking away.

 _Great,_ Liliana thought to herself. She was a difficult person herself. But this is what Director Mizzet had picked her for specifically for. She'd worked tirelessly her whole life for this, first with an MD from Stanford and then a from CalTech in Forensic Psychology, all by the ripe old age of 26. She knew the human body and she worked to know the human mind. She'd worked as a Medical Examiner and a profiler, before Niv Mizzet approached her about the FBI academy. Liliana had a spotless, impeccable record for solving crime, and that was why he placed her with Jace. he knew that together, they would be unstoppable.

She stared at the wall, where her degrees hung, and her picture of the reason that she did all of this. Josu, her older brother. She'd come home from school at Stanford to find him murdered, right there in their apartment. And that's when she figured out that she was gifted, though she never told anyone.

Josu had been the only person that Liliana could count on from a very young age. They had never known their parents, they had lived in a orphanage most of their life. It was said to be a fire, and Josu had gotten her out of the apartment just in time, though the firemen weren't able to save their parents.

On the day that she lost her brother, something inside Liliana Vess broke, and she knew she'd never be whole again. As she sobbed over her brother's broken body, she felt his spirit inside her mind. He was talking to her, telling him to find the person that killed him and ripped them apart. She thought she was going crazy, but that was before she took an internship underneath the San Francisco Medical Examiner. She heard them. They talked to her. That's why Liliana was never she couldn't be. The voices always told her who the killer was. She spoke to the dead, and sometimes through the dead.

She still talked to Josu everyday. It was a blessing, she guessed. At least she had a remnant of the only person who mattered to her.

So, at 0645, Liliana made it up to her office, a couple cups of coffee in her hand. She knew that this first impression was critical, especially since this Jace was the only person she'd be working with for her tenure at the Bureau.

He poked his head in her office door, where she stood up to greet him, handing him the over-sugared coffee. He graciously accepted, as he was running on next to nothing this morning.

"I'm Agent Beleren-Jace," he said between sips.

"Vess, uh, Liliana," she said. She smiled at him, and Jace could help but to tune in to her thoughts. She was appraising him. _How attractive,_ she thought, though she quickly shooed the thought from her mind.

When he saw her, and heard her thoughts, he wasn't immediately put off by her as he usually was. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He felt his heart drop into his stomach, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long while.

"I saw your impressive list of credentials, Vess. Like a real life WonderWoman." Jace told her.

Liliana smiled. She had a lot of pride in her work. It was the only thing that mattered to her.

Just as Lili made to respond, Niv Mizzet poked his head in the door.

"Director," they both said at the same time. "Good Morning."

"Not for you two. You have your first case. Some BTK looking type stuff. You're flying to New Orleans in an hour."

Jace cracked a smile. Catching these psychopaths, narcissists, and sociopaths was what he lived for.

" _Laissez le bon temps rouler_ ," he said.

"Oh, we're gonna have some fun," Liliana said, grabbing her go-bag.

* * *

 _ **To the living, we owe respect. To the dead, we owe nothing but the truth. - Voltaire**_


	2. BTK

Chapter One: BTK

* * *

"By the time we get there, there's going to be another body," Liliana told Jace. He agreed, them driving to Louisiana wasn't high on his list, but it was the only way they'd been approved to travel.

He threw the file in her lap. It did bear striking similarities to Dennis Rader, the Bind, Torture, Kill serial murder who plagued Kansas for nearly twenty years.

"He profiles like a sexual sadist," Jace mused aloud.

"BTK worked by hiding in plain sight," Liliana added. "Does this guy have that kind of control? We both know how rare that is. The only other serial killer with that sort of psychopathy off the top of my head is the Zodiac- these guys don't quit."

"He hasn't slowed down, only the modus operandi is similar to BTK. Keep reading. He also added electrocution to his bag of tricks. Second victim had burns that came from jumper cables." Jace told her.

"What a catch," Liliana said, nodding. "Sexual assault?"

"The coroner didn't look-"

"What?" LIliana said indignantly. "Not Jefferson Parish-she's extremely competent-"

"No, small town. I've told them to send any more vics to the field office, so that you can do any more autopsies."

"Am I going to be able to see the first two?" Liliana asked. Being able to talk to the victims was what Liliana hinged her success on. Although she was a good doctor, if you had the answer and only had to find the proof, you'd come to rely on that as well.

Jace heard a blip of her mind. Talk to her victims? Only had to find the proof? He had no idea what she was on about. He shook the thought that she could be gifted. He'd never met anyone like him. People like him didn't exist.

Liliana shook her head as she flipped through the rest of the file.

"So. Why medical school?" He queried.

"Um, it was just my brother and I for a long time. Then, he-uh, was murdered. By some night-stalker, Ramirez wanna be. And I decided that I would never let another family feel the way I do. All of my degrees deal with law enforcement, criminology, forensics."

Liliana felt a deep pang. She didn't tell anyone about Josu, but there was something about Jace that made her comfortable. Jace heard this, and smiled to himself. Liliana cleared her throat, speaking.

"What about you? I see that you went to MIT and you majored in-uh, Math? Wow. And Criminology. Nice. It was like you were born to go to the FBI academy."

"Yeah. The director sought me out when I was still at MIT."

"Me too-he found me at CalTech- I wonder if he's still looking for people for this unit."

"He hasn't told me if he is," Jace said. "Not that that means much."

"I loathe driving," Jace said. "This is a two hour flight. It's a sixteen hour drive."

"I can drive," Liliana said. Though she hated it too. And she was hungry.

"You wanna stop for food? And plane tickets?" Jace was only half joking. "We can stop at GSP and be there in a hour, and maybe a body won't drop while we're in the air. This is ridiculous."

Jace ran his fingers through his hair, and Liliana felt a small jolt of attraction, then felt blood rush to her cheeks. Jace smiled; she had no idea that he knew what had just went through her mind.

"I'll even pay for the plane tickets," Liliana grumbled. She knew that Jace could do the right paperwork and they'd be reimbursed. But honestly, she didn't think she'd survive twelve more hours in a car.

"I'll send a strongly worded letter to the director if I have to." Jace grinned again. Maybe she wouldn't be so bad of a partner after all. Just as Jace said that he was going to speak to the director, Liliana's phone started ringing, as did Jace's. When Liliana looked, it was Loretta Wade, the Jefferson Parish Coroner.

"Liliana," her drawling, NOLA accent sounded like honey on the other line. But Liliana knew that this honey was going to be dripping with fire-ants.

"How many, Lo?" Liliana sighed. It seemed Jace was getting the same call from the lead detective.

"Three. A mama and her two babies. The father came home for lunch and…" Loretta's voice faltered.

"My partner and I are getting on a plane now- we'll be there in less than three hours. Leave the scene as it is, don't move the bodies."

Liliana breathed in. Jace had walked away and was pushing a burrito in her hand so that they could walk from the street to the gate. Apparently, Jace had already spoken to TSA and the Air Marshals and they would be on their way to New Orleans in a few minutes.

"Did they say anything to you other than body count?" Jace rubbed his temples. His head was starting to hurt, but not in a way that could be solved with an Excedrin and some coffee, but in that ethereal way that he felt when he knew a bomb was coming.

As they took their seats on the plane the pain in his temples increased. He put his head between his knees and Liliana was giving him a long, hard look. She knew something was different about this man, but she didn't know what. He had an energy that she couldn't place. At first, she had just thought it was attraction, but this was deeper. She breathed in and touched Jace's temples. A bit forward, sure, but that's how she worked, that's who she was. Forward, loud, driven. Her fingers could trace the source of the headache. It was starkingly different from any touch he'd ever felt. From any woman or man. He breathed in and felt the pain exit his body.

He looked up at his partner, at how her long, black hair hit almost at her waist, how her green eyes were almost icy, the way the color was rising to her cheeks as she felt the connection, too.

He didn't know what to say, but he did delve into her thoughts. They were choppy, she didn't know what she'd felt either. Without much of a word, Liliana grabbed her blanket and fell asleep almost immediately. And in this moment of weakness, Jace wanted nothing more than to watch her dream. He'd never done so to anyone, he felt as it was a violation. He swallowed the need, though it was like nothing he had ever felt before.

Jace tried to shut his eyes too, but this was his first murder case. He'd worked white-collar crimes, embezzlement, nothing that resulted in catastrophic death. But it seemed from the little bit that he knew about his partner that she surrounded herself with it, and that she had been surrounded, and thereby fascinated with it since her life changed at the hands of a serial killer. Jace tried to swallow the nerves that came with the new position, the new partner, the new types of cases. His personal relationship with the director notwithstanding, he'd run over a lot of people to get here. He just hoped it was worth it.

* * *

"Let me drive into Jefferson Parish," Liliana said. Jace didn't mind. His head was starting to hurt again. Jace had never been somewhere so superstitious as New Orleans. He chuckled to himself. He now knew that superstition was those that weren't blind to the things that were actually there. "I know my way around," she said, shaking him out of of his reverie.

"Aren't you from California?"

"We moved to California from New Orleans when I was 15. Josu and I did. So this is home, too. When we catch this unsub I'll take you to get some really great food and hear some really great music."

"I'd like that," Jace managed to get out. He should probably say no, keep it professional. But he felt _drawn_ to Liliana, he wanted to taste her mind; he wanted to get to know her.

"That's how I know the medical examiner down here. I know a lot of the field agents down here from the Bureau and from NCiS."

Jace and Liliana pulled up onto the last crime scene. It was a small house in Suburbia, but nothing could have prepared Jace or Liliana for what they were about to see.

The kids had been shot, back of the head, execution style. However, their mother, oh, their mother. It was bloody, gruesome She'd obviously been electrocuted with jumper cables. She'd been stabbed to the point it was almost vivisection; and then she'd been strung from the a pipe in the basement. Jace swallowed hard. They both knew what the stabbing meant, that the killer was probably impotent; and that they used stabbing for the act of sex. Jace had disappeared into the next room, presumably collecting evidence. Liliana breathed in and closed her eyes, trying to foster a connection with her, a name of any of them, the name of her killer, anything. BUt the only thing Liliana felt was deep, searing pain, a pain that she knew wasn't her own, but a connection with the victim. She breathed in again, sharply. And then the victim, Lyla's eyes snapped open.

* * *

 _ **"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." -The Oath of Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation**_


End file.
